Who are you without the suit?
by da-lemonlollipop
Summary: Steve trying to cope with Tony. How will it end? Fluff. Tickling.


"Why do I have to this?"

Tony was standing in the training room. Facing him, in some distance was Steve Rogers aka Captain America. He eyed Tony.

"Fury's orders. We must be in shape in case of an attack. He assigned me to train with you."

"Riiight.." Tony drawled the word, desperately looking around the room for a chance of escape. His facial expression told Steve how clearly he didn't want to be here. Probably he would rather go and tinker with his machines. In fact, Tony would prefer that. But what irritated him more was "Fury's orders". After his father died nobody gave him "Iorders/i" and he preferred it to stay that way. Why did he agree on the Avengers project? Oh yeah. Because they didn't let him join in the first place. And when they did, he knew he must be a part of this. Too much fun to miss.

"Are you ready?" Steve was patient but he couldn't help to feel anxious towards Tony. He was cocky, over-confident. Steve was gentle, their personalities didn't match. He reminded him of Howard Stark. The same character, the same annoying sense of humor, even their appearance was similar.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's get going with it." said Tony, knowing that there was no way for him to skip this part. Not with Captain. "So" he clapped his hands together "What is your specialty, Cappy?"

Steve squinted his eyes. Here it goes again.

"Martial arts."

"Ah, like those high kicks in somebody's head? Round kicks? Very useful when you're fighting in a piece of metal that limits your joints movements." said Tony in patronizing tone.

Steve hold a groan inside him.

"And what would happen if you had to fight without your suit?"

Tony folded his arms on his chest.

"Well, I would tell you to keep them occupied until I get back in it. Which is, by the way, unlikely to happen." he said, raising his arm, showing Captain a metal bracelet around his wrist.

Steve was running out of arguments. He knew there was no way of talking Tony into training. That man wouldn't last a day in the army. An order was an order. For Tony it was a base for discussion.

"Why I wasn't assigned with Natasha.. " Tony let out a sigh and said to himself. Training with a fiery red-head would be so much more interesting that training with Captain Serious.

"Because Natasha would smite you to the ground." Steve replied. Damn his peak human senses. "Just as she did with your bodyguard.." he added, drifting his gaze away from the brunet. That caught his attention.

"Hey! I can fight better than Happy" he backtalked, pointing at Captain.

"Really? Because, for now, you have only proven that you can talk." Why he didn't think of this earlier? Tony was like a child - he could be easily provoked to do something.

"We will see about that.." he rushed at Steve delivering punches. It wasn't a challenge for Steve to dodge them, what only made Tony more determined to hit him. Tony was fighting mostly by using hands. He didn't look like it, but he knew how to box. It was one of his free time activities. It was also more useful for him as his legs movements were limited due to the Iron-man suit. Why he would even want to use kicks as he could shoot lasers out of his palms?

Tony's punches were getting more aggressive and, because of that, more predictable and Steve decided to end this. He delivered a blow into Tony's stomach. Doing that he had forgotten that Tony was not in his armor. He was wearing a black tank top which gave him no protection and Steve was considerably stronger than him. Tony's eyes went wide, he folded with an "Iump/I" sound and feel on his knees, clutching his stomach with one hand, the other one planted firmly on the ground. He coughed. Steve got frighten that he could seriously hurt him. Tony lift his head up and gave Captain a crooked smile.

"If I had been in my suit you would be dead by now." Steve timidly smiled.  
"Sorry about that" he reached his hand toward Tony to help him stand up. He accepted it but as soon as he stand up he tried to tackle Steve by lunging himself at him, trying to attack his legs. Captain recognized this move from Jiu Jitsu and knew how to defend it. He threw his arms around Tony's neck immobilizing him. He could easily tackle him to the ground now.

"I think it is enough, Tony" he snickered.

In the next few seconds his world went upside down. He felt falling to the ground, being slammed down on his back by the brunet. What Tony did was grab his shoulder, next swinging his arm underneath Captain's leg. He quickly stepped to the side, lift him up and take him down on his back. Tony was leaning over Steve, still tackling him to the ground, smiling triumphantly.

"What was that?" he asked surprised.  
"MMA. It's a new thing."  
"I'd call it playing unfair. There is nothing new about it."  
"Call it as you want, but you're the one on the ground" Tony said getting up from Steve, placing his hands on Captain's stomach for better support. As he stand up his fingertips lightly brushed Steve's stomach causing him to snort and shift a little. Tony looked at him in surprise. In the next second a broad grin appeared on his face as he squat next to the blonde.

"What was that?" he asked, already knowing the answer.  
"Nothing" Steve answered automatically.  
"Really? It didn't seem like nothing" Tony tilted his head to the side, grin didn't leave his face.  
"Tony" he said in a serious tone.  
"Okay, okay, let it be.." Tony started, luring Captain in the false sense of security and when he saw relief in his eyes he wiggled his fingers all over Steve's stomach.  
"H-hey! " Steve laughed loudly but the in the next moment he tried to stifle it inside him and rolled to the side.  
"Oh no you don't" Tony's fingers followed Captain and now, instead of only tickling his stomach, he was running fingers along his side.  
"No! Toohoohonyy, please! Staahahap!" Steve tried to protect himself by curling into a ball but Tony's devious fingers were capable of finding their way to his sensitive spots. Captain turned on his stomach, trying to crawl away, but the result was that Tony sat on his back, pinning him to the ground, working his fingers up and down blonde's sides and ribs, occasionally tickling under his arms when he saw an opening.

"ACK! AHAHAHAHA! PLEASE!" Steve was squirming. Tony enjoyed the sound of his laughter. It was booming, fitting to his posture. Too bad it wasn't heard very often. He started to think why he was previously thinking that training with Captain America will be a waste of time and that this is 100 more times fun than constructing another machine. In the meantime Steve tried to press his arms to his torso, but that didn't help him at all, so now he tried to grab Tony's hands. It seemed like a good plan, but tickling was causing a distraction and Tony's hands, skilled in working with complicated machinery, were more agile and quicker than Steve assumed. He had to fight back. Being taller than the brunet he had longer arms, so he swung them to the back trying to grab Tony. Tony didn't expect Captain to retaliate and when he felt a hand squeezing one of his sides he squealed, stopped tickling Steve and impulsively grabbed his sides in protection. That was all Captain needed. In one swift motion he turned on his back, making Tony fall to the ground. Next he grabbed him by wrists and pinned them above his head. Tony didn't like where this situation was going.

Steve was catching his breath. His face was red, blonde hair falling to his face. If Tony didn't know better he would immediately start to mock Captain's appearance.  
"That.. wasn't.. funny!" he said between catching his breath. Tony grinned.  
"Then why were you laughing?"  
Captain glared at him and let him go. He was sitting on the ground, his breathing was coming back to normal. Tony sat too, looking at the blonde.

"Don't do it ever again" he said, looking seriously at him.  
"Hm, maybe. I will try" a familiar cocky smirk appeared on Tony's lips, "But I can't promise about the rest when I will tell them your little secret."

It was a split of a second. Next thing Tony knew was that he was lying again on the floor with his hands pinned above his head. Steve was leaning over him, sitting on his hips. Tony was startled for a moment, but next he realized that as long Captain is holding both of his wrist he is safe. He flashed a grin at him.  
Steve furrowed his brows and, as reading in Tony's thoughts, he put his wrist closer together and pin them with one hand. Tony was smaller in posture so it wasn't hard. Steve grinned triumphantly.

"Do you still want to tell the rest?" he asked. Tony thought about this for a moment. His position was to his disadvantage. He tried to get free but Steve's had a vice-like grip.  
"Well?" he asked again.

Oh, wait. Captain was a nice guy. Surely if Tony start acting like being mad his gentle heart will make him let go. He made a serious face.

"Steve, let me go."  
"I don't think so."  
"I'm serious."  
"Really?" Steve started to flick his fingers at Tony's side. He flinched at the touch and bite his lips. Steve knew that Tony will not give up easily, he had to find a better spot. He moved his hand up, racking the ribs, and the closer he got to his underarm Tony's wriggling was getting more intense. When his fingers reached there, Tony broke.

"Pffff.. AHAHAHA!" he was wiggling all over, his legs kicking, eyes shut tight. Steve giggled hearing Tony's laugh. It was high-pitched, but luckily it wasn't a shrill. It was a sound Steve could get used to.

"STEVE! sthahahaahaahap!"  
"Are you still planning on saying the rest about it? " he moved his hand around Tony's side, tickling not only his underarm but also ribs, side and stomach. The reaction was instantaneous.

"AHAHAHAHA! DOHAHAHAN'T!" Steve noticed that he got the best reaction from Tony while tickling either his underarm or midriff. He focused on his stomach, occasionally lightly sliding his fingers across his bellybutton, which drove Tony mad, but Steve didn't realize it yet.

"AGH! NOHAHAHA! I WON'T, I WON'T!" Tony was struggling really hard, Captain was having problems to maintain his balance.  
"Promise it!"  
"I.. I.. AHAHAHA! PROMIIIHIIHIIHISE!"

Steve ceased his attack. He let go of Tony's wrist and got off him. The moment he got off, Tony rolled to his side, clutching his legs to his torso protecting himself from an unexpected attack. His breath irregular, eyes sparkling from laughing too hard. His chest hurt. He felt that his, usually well maintained hair, had disheveled from the struggling. Steve was looking at him. He started to wonder if he didn't go overboard with it. In the next second a thought occurred in his mind that Tony's iron suit didn't only protect him from getting hurt. He snorted, earning a glare from the brunet. Tony felt that he is safe now so he turned on his back. His muscles were aching, he was covered with sweat. Suddenly he laughed loudly. Steve looked at him with a sign of amusement on his face.

"Some training, huh, Captain?"

* * *

My first Avenger fic - because Tony should be taught a lesson or two ;)

I support Super Husbands!

I had to do some research in this one. First – Marvel universe. My whole knowledge comes from the movies so I had to expand it. Steve was trained in martial arts, it's a Marvel fact. Tony – I didn't find an info about him and box, but in the Iron-man 2 there is a scene of Tony boxing with Happy (and a reference to it in the fic, the later dialogue is also a reference to this scene). Second – fighting scene. I actually watched few MMA and Jiu Jitsu techniques on youtube to make it accurate. Tony was trying to perform a double leg throw, which Steve blocked by using guillotine (but without the choke, as he only wanted to stop him), Tony responded with an move called standing guillotine shoulder defense. I know that Tony lifting up Captain like this sounds unlikely, but he pulled his strength and managed. He is not as buffed as Steve, but still he is C:


End file.
